KEVIN “Gerbil” Carroll put out a £100,000 contract on one of the men blamed for killing him, a murder trial was told yesterday.

Detective Constable James Sloan said the man told him Carroll had put out a hit on him three months before the gangster was shot dead.

DC Sloan was giving evidence at the trial of Ross Monaghan, who is accused of murdering Carroll, 29, by gunning him down in a supermaket car park.

The jury were told that DC Sloan spoke to the man – a former associate of Carroll’s, who cannot be named for legal reasons – after the shooting at Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow, on January 13, 2010.

He refused to give a formal statement but did give information to the inquiry. Defence QC Derek Ogg asked DC Sloan: “Did this man say, ‘I’ll do 10 years for that wee p***k, it’ll be worth it’.”

He replied, “I don’t recall that.”

Mr Ogg added: “Did this man say he was no longer an associate because he understood that Gerbil had offered £100,000 for a hit on him?” The detective replied: “That’s correct.”

The man also gave police information about a number of people interested in doing serious harm to Mr Carroll, DC Sloan said. Monaghan, 30, has lodged a special defence blaming eight men including William Paterson, who is believed to be in Spain, for the shooting.

Gillian Rankin, from Addiewell Prison, also told the court that two days after Carroll was shot, Monaghan and Paterson visited Paul Lyons in the West Lothian jail.

Monaghan denies all the charges against him. The trial before judge Lord Brailsford continues.